Thinking about a Summer Camp?

Some Tips from a Camp Expert

BY: Jennifer Beauvais

Issue 3

Monday, April 22, 2013

RATE THIS:

Aviva Reinitz is Canada’s
sole camp representative for The Camp Experts & Teen Summers (Camp Experts), a free summer camp and teen summer program
advisory service. While living in
Montreal, Aviva started working as a representative while her two children were
in elementary school. At first she worked as a “finder”/recruiter, who
recommended parents to try out the free service. After a while, Aviva was
encouraged by her success and in April 2009 decided to become a Camp Expert
representative herself. She is happy to be able to maintain flexible hours and
work from home, and her two children have benefited from their mother’s camp
expertise having been sent to sports camps in Maine and a teen tour from New
Jersey to San Francisco by bus!

If you think you’d like to become a Camp Expert parent “finder”/recruiter, you can contact Aviva for more information.

How does
this free service work?Parents
interested in sending their children to summer camp should call Aviva and she
will send parents a web link with information. Information can be passed along
without a meeting via email.

Already
feeling overbooked with your kids’ activities?Sending
your child to a camp geared towards their favorite activity, whether it would
be basketball, football, hockey, soccer, golf, dance, theater etc. helps out
the whole family. Aviva mentioned how sending her own two children to camp gave
everyone a break. Her kids got some time doing what they love and gaining
independence, while Aviva and her husband got a “vacation”! Kids don’t have to
leave for the whole summer, but Aviva has noticed that many want to; as she
mentioned, “The kids like gaining independence
and making decisions on their own. Most kids are smothered at home and don’t
have the opportunity to do things themselves.”

Young
AdultsIf your
child is in high school and is convinced they want to become a doctor, or
perhaps they are still unsure about what program to take in college, Aviva can
recommend internship programs. These internship camps are geared towards
allowing students to see what it is like to work in their preferred discipline.
For example, if your child is only 16, but knows they want to study medicine,
they can attend a 3-week program that allows them to experiment in this
discipline.

Visiting
Camps in PersonOne of
the challenges parents who are considering sending their child to camp face is
not being able to visit the camp in person. The camp website might look like
paradise online, but who really knows what it looks like in reality? So, during
the summer months, Aviva and other Camp Expert representatives travel and visit
camps in person. Aviva has traveled to Connecticut, Ontario, and Toronto area,
New Hampshire, Maine, Lake George and the Adirondacks to check out camps.
Aviva’s criteria for putting a camp on her list of recommendations is to ask
herself “ Would I send my own kids here?”.

Aviva
once visited a special needs camp that had problems with exposed nails in the
floor and unsanitary conditions. These
are problems that one would only notice by visiting the camp in person. As a
result of their visit, Camp Expert representatives removed the camp from their
list.

They may
also reject a camp if the kids do not look busy doing activities. Aviva speaks
with the kids, as well as the camp directors during her visits. She looks for
“passion in the directors and what they put into it, good grounds that are not
fancy but well run, and happy kids is a priority.”

How do you
know when your child is ready for camp?With her
years of experience, Aviva believes that it all depends on your child’s
personality and level of maturity. Parents can ask themselves questions like: how does my
child behave socially? How well do they interact with people?

It also
helps when kids are going to a camp to do something they love. In most cases,
parents let Aviva know what their children like and dislike to help make
choosing the appropriate camp easier. Some parents come to Aviva with a list of
three camps and she helps them make their final choice based on her expertise. Aviva
can also recommend camps for children with special needs, health and dietary
regimens.

Aviva can
recall times when parents and kids disagreed on their choice of camp. As Aviva
recalls in one situation, the son said
he really wanted to go to a specific camp, but his parents were hesitant. Aviva
was able to meet with the family and convince the parents that their son was
making the right decision. In some cases the kids are more enthusiastic about
leaving for camp and even get in touch with Aviva on their own to set up a
meeting for their family. Interestingly,
Aviva has noticed that some parents seem to have more of a problem with
separation than their kids!

Booking
a CampAviva takes
the family’s budget into account, suggesting there are camps to suit all
pocketbooks. Aviva’s services are free; one pays the same whether one books a
camp directly or books it from Aviva.

Now is a
great time to begin thinking about and looking for a summer camp or teen
program for your child or children. The sooner the better, but it’s never too
late to contact Aviva.

Jennifer Beauvais is an instructor at the Part-Time Faculty of Concordia University and at the John Abbott College.She is also a content expert, author and editor at ilasallecampus and a co-editor at Laval Families Magazine.